Like most of you, I bleed Blue & Gold. But on Sundays—and an occasional Monday night—I bleed purple too. Yes, as a decade-long Maryland resident, I am a Ravens fan.

But I am a Notre Dame fan first.

Let me explain how this works; let me share with you how a swimmer (or this swimmer) views football.

I’m all Irish. Don’t invite me out on a Saturday night when there is a night game.

Don’t call or text at 3:30pm EST in the fall when there is a home game.

And if you are at my house, put away your smartphones; because I don’t allow pictures—aka evidence—of my in-game behavior (It’s why I choose to watch the games at my house, with my family and not at a game-watch…though they are very fun, by the way).

And then comes Sunday. New college rankings…and NFL games.

I love my NFL team; as I’m sure most of you do—whether you are a Steelers fan, a Pats fan, a Dolphins fan.

But as much as I look forward to wearing my Lewis-Moore jersey (#67! So psyched to have him in B’more) this year (which replaced my Zbikowski jersey), I have a lot more than the Ravens on my mind.

The first thing I do when I sit down with my game day program, is look through the visiting team’s roster to see who is from Notre Dame. And I root for them to do well.

Last Thursday night during the Ravens’ season opener in Denver (don’t get me started on that one!) it was David Bruton who blocked Baltimore’s punt setting up the Broncos to score. Bummed as a Ravens’ fan; proud of my fellow Domer.

And don’t get me started on Fantasy Football. My son and I fought over Michael Floyd. My other son drafted Theo Riddick. I drafted Kyle Rudolph as a rookie, but this year he went pretty early, so I took Tyler Eifert. My defense? San Diego, of course.

I would imagine this swimmer views the NFL as most former “Fig-thing Irish” athletes do: interesting on Sundays, but even more interesting when our Irish are playing…all the way to my fantasy league’s playoffs.